PCBGuitarMania Lemon Bass

[mjh36]

Finally got this one boxed up with my first Tayda UV print as well. After a couple test runs I got the kinks worked out. This is supposed to be like the Orange AD200B MkII bass amp which I've never heard or played.

First off, I'm new to bass. Just built my first bass for tracking and needed some pedals. So I may not be the best judge of tone on these matters. Functionally-wise? It works! It makes a "sound". For me it's kind of a one trick pony. Has a good vintage bass sound that you can add grit too. EQ just tailors to taste, not super powerful though.

The drill template is different on this though. I didn't notice at first, but the 6 potentiometer holes are about 7mm higher than normal PPCB builds, so I wasted a couple enclosures learning that lesson. And there's no negative pad up by the power jack so I had to connect it somewhere else. No big deal but a couple odd things that made it harder than need be. I also have their DarkGlass Bk7 Ultra clone finished, I'll post about that soon.

 

[BQFS]

I just got done building this thing, and was just getting ready to test it before putting it in the enclosure, when I made the unpleasant discovery that there is NO GROUND CONNECTION on the board. Usually there is one directly next to where the 9V positive hole sits on the board, but not in this case.

I HATE figuring out these things through trial and error, which I usually term "error and more error." So, where do I attach the ground from the power supply jack?

On the last build from the same company, the clone of the MXR Noise Gate (called the No-Noise Gate) the problem was almost the same. But in that case, there was a hole for the ground wire from the DC jack, but similarly no hole for grounding the case and jacks.

What I did in that case was to run TWO wires, one from the DC jack negative lead to the hole, and one from the hole to the ground lead of one of the (input or output, I forget which, not that it matters) jacks.

I guess I will follow what the OP did, and run the ground wire from the DC jack to one of the in/out jacks and from there to the ground lead near the bottom of the board nearest the stomp switch. Not exactly the height of elegance. I would call this poor design when you have to kludge something like this to get it to work.

Since I have found two design flaws with two boards (out of two tries), I doubt I will be buying any more boards from PCB Guitar Mania.

 

[jimilee]

I just got done building this thing, and was just getting ready to test it before putting it in the enclosure, when I made the unpleasant discovery that there is NO GROUND CONNECTION on the board. Usually there is one directly next to where the 9V positive hole sits on the board, but not in this case.

I HATE figuring out these things through trial and error, which I usually term "error and more error." So, where do I attach the ground from the power supply jack?

On the last build from the same company, the clone of the MXR Noise Gate (called the No-Noise Gate) the problem was almost the same. But in that case, there was a hole for the ground wire from the DC jack, but similarly no hole for grounding the case and jacks.

What I did in that case was to run TWO wires, one from the DC jack negative lead to the hole, and one from the hole to the ground lead of one of the (input or output, I forget which, not that it matters) jacks.

I guess I will follow what the OP did, and run the ground wire from the DC jack to one of the in/out jacks and from there to the ground lead near the bottom of the board nearest the stomp switch. Not exactly the height of elegance. I would call this poor design when you have to kludge something like this to get it to work.

Since I have found two design flaws with two boards (out of two tries), I doubt I will be buying any more boards from PCB Guitar Mania.

Yeah, Sorry you're late to the party, that blows. Don't buy those boards. I can't believe those guys sell those in good consciounce.

If you look at the above pic, the ground from the DC jack is piggy backed on the ground that goes to the foot switch.

 

[joelorigo]

Glad you got it working. I phrase it that way because there's a bit of discussions about the boards by that company on this board.

 

[swelchy]

On the FB group for them people still buying them.. building them out and posting questions why they don't fire up... Total scam.

 

[leadfoot]

Nice build through all the pain. I'd definitely shy away from them but I've built a lot of PCBs from them and only one I couldn't get working well.

For the Darkglass stuff, I'd look at AionFX's versions of them. Those do work and are a breeze to put together.

 

[comradehoser]

On the FB group for them people still buying them.. building them out and posting questions why they don't fire up... Total scam.

Maybe not a scam, maybe just incompetence. Check out the facebook video I posted in a discussion. He does seem fairly earnest and remorseful. I don't know what precipitated a crisis in his world, but it seems like there is one. Maybe bad reviews threatening his multi-million cents PCBs revenue stream.

 

[swelchy]

Maybe not a scam, maybe just incompetence. Check out the facebook video I posted in a discussion. He does seem fairly earnest and remorseful. I don't know what precipitated a crisis in his world, but it seems like there is one. Maybe bad reviews threatening his multi-million cents PCBs revenue stream.

it's been going on for years.. not just lately. I bought several boards 4 years ago and every one was a failure in the build without having to hack job wire and jump traces... wasn't worth the trouble.. He doesnt proof the pcbs when they come in and just sends them out to the wild..

 

[jwin615]

it's been going on for years.. not just lately. I bought several boards 4 years ago and every one was a failure in the build without having to hack job wire and jump traces... wasn't worth the trouble.. He doesnt proof the pcbs when they come in and just sends them out to the wild..

Noractually trace, instead ripping schematics off other vendors, DIYSB, and the like.
Some PCBs were made from old traces that the DIY community knew had issues.

 

[mjh36]

I just got done building this thing, and was just getting ready to test it before putting it in the enclosure, when I made the unpleasant discovery that there is NO GROUND CONNECTION on the board. Usually there is one directly next to where the 9V positive hole sits on the board, but not in this case.

I HATE figuring out these things through trial and error, which I usually term "error and more error." So, where do I attach the ground from the power supply jack?

On the last build from the same company, the clone of the MXR Noise Gate (called the No-Noise Gate) the problem was almost the same. But in that case, there was a hole for the ground wire from the DC jack, but similarly no hole for grounding the case and jacks.

What I did in that case was to run TWO wires, one from the DC jack negative lead to the hole, and one from the hole to the ground lead of one of the (input or output, I forget which, not that it matters) jacks.

I guess I will follow what the OP did, and run the ground wire from the DC jack to one of the in/out jacks and from there to the ground lead near the bottom of the board nearest the stomp switch. Not exactly the height of elegance. I would call this poor design when you have to kludge something like this to get it to work.

Since I have found two design flaws with two boards (out of two tries), I doubt I will be buying any more boards from PCB Guitar Mania.

Sorry for your troubles on that pedal, seems like you'll get it sorted out. That was the easiest, most obvious place for me, so I just didn't clip the wire lead on that bottom GND pad so I could wrap around it.

Did you have any troubles with the enclosure? For a 125B it was a miserable experience, but I got it after 2-3 failed attempts. Too tight of a fit. The bottom of the board hit the footswitch area, so I had to adjust my drilling of the potentiometer holes farther upward. As seen in the pic, the pots barely fit underneath the jacks because of that. As mentioned by others and what you've gathered yourself, more trouble than it's worth to order from them again.

 

[BQFS]

I gave up and sold it as is to a guy on Reverb who likes to fix other people's failures. I just reached my limit. I have learned since that the boards from Guitar PCB Mania are not very well thought of in the DIY community, reinforcing my thought that these will be the last two boards I buy from them. First, the design is flawed, and then we're told to put it in an enclosure that is truly too small, too tight a fit. Who needs it? Not me, that's for sure. On to bigger and better things....

 

[jimilee]

I gave up and sold it as is to a guy on Reverb who likes to fix other people's failures. I just reached my limit. I have learned since that the boards from Guitar PCB Mania are not very well thought of in the DIY community, reinforcing my thought that these will be the last two boards I buy from them. First, the design is flawed, and then we're told to put it in an enclosure that is truly too small, too tight a fit. Who needs it? Not me, that's for sure. On to bigger and better things....

Might have been someone here.